U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,401,126 and 3,429,040 to Miller suggest connecting integrated computer (IC) chips by a grid array of C4 joints to ceramic substrates.
Fabrication of rigid organic circuit boards are suggested in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,554,877; 3,791,858; and 3,554,877.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,372 to Altman suggests forming solder pads by using a squeegee to force paste onto contact pads at holes in a thick layer of solder resist; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,764 to Degani suggests printing solder through a stencil for connecting flip chips.
"Ball Grid Arrays: the Hot New Package" by Terry Costlow and "Solder Balls Make Connections" by Glenda Derman both in Electronic Engineering Times, Mar. 15, 1993, suggest using solder balls to connect ceramic and flexible chip carriers to circuit boards.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,372 to Funari et al. suggests a head for heating a semiconductor chip and applying force against the top surface of the semiconductor chip to form solder joints between 97/3 Pb/Sn solder bumps on the bottom surface of the chip and contacts on top of an epoxy resin circuit board reinforced by fiberglass. A backing plate is shown on the opposite side of the board from the connection.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,315 to Konno et al. suggests a pusher for pushing a push head against a component (IC chip) on a substrate and a supporting device with a support head and spring 42 for supporting the substrate on the opposite side of the substrate from the component. During soldering using light beams, "the push head and support head restrain the substrate from thermal deformation."
U.S. Pat. No. 5,317,803 to Spigarelli et al. suggests a device for pressing the peripheral leads of and IC device against a printed circuit board during soldering.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,552,300 to Zovko et al. suggests a soldering-desoldering device including a ceramic housing with an open end which rests on the surface of a printed wiring board enclosing a leadless chip carrier and a ceramic heater assembly with an internal passageway. The housing interior conforms to the carrier and the heater conforms to the interior of the housing and slides within the housing. The heater assembly is lowered close to the carrier, pressurized air is introduced between the heater and housing, heated, and directed to the joints at the periphery of the carrier module. A vacuum is applied to the passageway to remove the air to prevent leaking between the housing and board.
The entire disclosures of the above citations are incorporated herein by reference for convenience.